carpe diem: rolicking and roadtripping

I think that getting home from a trip is almost as fun as being on the trip; for a couple hours, you get to sort through pictures and reminisce about all the cool things you were doing just yesterday, and don't yet have to worry too much about "real life" things. It's like that Dido, "Sand in My Shoes" song...

Two weeks away it feels like the world should've changed
But I'm home now
And things still look the same
I think I'll leave it to tomorrow till unpack
Try to forget for one more night
That I'm back in my flat on the road
Where the cars never stop going through the night
To real life where I can't watch sunset
I don't have time

Ah, lyrics. Part of the fun of sorting pictures is then getting to write blog posts about them; and believe me, between Picasa, Facebook, Blogger, LJ, and eventually, my own scrapbook--these pictures get combed over a lot. Probably good though, as the collection gets smaller and smaller every time.

Anyway--as you can tell, we've made it back safe and sound from our Byron Bay road trip! It was lots of fun, a lot of driving, but good food, good friends, good music, beaches, and wineries will make up for just about anything. We left here early Saturday morning to pick up Sarah from the airport, however, her flight out of Cairns was delayed due to cyclonic weather. We didn't actually get on the road to Byron Bay until about 1:30 pm, and drove straight until about 10:30. Of course, we were so well organized and knew exactly where we were going (not), but things worked out and we got to the Arts Factory (recommended to us by Ignacio & co.) and our tent up in short order. How Luke and I figured out our large and weird tent with only one flashlight and after having been awake since 8 am, I'm not too sure, but hey... not complaining!

Our second day, we drove a little ways out to Nimbin, Australia's hippy capital. I felt like I was in Nelson, really, just a little more intense. It was a really cute little town though, with some nice markets and cafes and the like... the drive was gorgeous too. :) That afternoon we spent at the beach, we had some yummy sausages for dinner at the campground, and then enjoyed our free drink at the Arts Factory's bar and went downtown to do some dancing. The next day, we relaxed a bit in the morning and did some shopping (postcards, new bathing suit for Ola, me spotting a good Supre sale, you know), and then drove that afternoon to Port Macquarie. Found that campground, set up the tent quickly again, and found ourselves some pizza downtown for dinner--while Byron Bay was buzzing pretty much every night due to schoolies week (aka, all the school kids who are 18 go partying somewhere to celebrate graduation), Port Macquarie was really quiet, much as small towns tend to be on a Monday night. (Whodathunk, really.) Our third day was spent at the beach for the morning, followed by a more leisurely drive down to the Central Coast. We stopped at the Innes Lake Winery close to Port Mac, and a little bit later at Bago Vineyards. Next summer, we are so doing a wine tasting trip in the Okanagan!

Our last night was spent at Pearl Beach at Luke's grandparents' vacation house there. It's a cute little thing, much like Jeremy's place at Oberon, and it was nice at that point to have a TV with movies and a real bed (and our lovely bottles of wine from earlier in the day!). We got some beach time in today, followed by a quick drive back into Sydney so I could meet Jeremy and his parents to see Miss Saigon. (Which was amazing. I definitely cried at the end.) Busy few days? Heck yes. Awesome few days? Duh!

Now, for some photos. As normal, this is just a handful; all 50 can be found in their respective Google Album.